Waterloo loses 2 music venues while more fight to survive: Beth Bowles

Earlier this year on the weekend of March 14, Ryan Good, owner of Chainsaw, a popular student bar in uptown Waterloo, grappled with what to do as St. Patrick's day was fast approaching.

Days before COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, and the threat seemed more and more prevalent in Waterloo region. For business owners working in nightlife or live music, this posed a very serious challenge. 

"We didn't know how the pandemic would go, but being a small business owner in uptown Waterloo … I didn't want to make the decision to close, but because of Ezra Street, we thought it would be the right decision to prevent [the large gathering on] Ezra Street from happening," Good said. 

Paul Maxwell, president of Maxwell's Concerts and Events, postponed his first show of many on March 14. As one of the larger live music venues in the area, Maxwell foresaw that business as he knew it would be on hold for a long time. 

"We knew right away that going into the first stage of [closures] — that it would be a long recovery for our industry and I was quoted early on saying we'll be the first to close and the last to re-open, just due to the sheer size of gathering that we can host," he said. 

No encore for Starlight 

Now, nearly five months later, the local live music industry hasn't had many wins as Waterloo region settles into stage three of re-opening.

Even with gathering sizes increased to 50 people, most live music performances are restricted to restaurant patios, where the music is just in the background while you eat dinner. 

As a result, Chainsaw and another uptown Waterloo live music venue, Starlight, have both decided to close their doors permanently.

Starlight was a small uptown Waterloo venue that featured bands from all over the world, as well as local DJs. Owner Josh Koehler said that in the year leading up to the closure it was hard to get people out to shows. When he temporarily closed his business in March, the future seemed more grim than ever."I had to wrap my head around whether we were going to be able to re-open," Koehler said.

"I ended up getting to a point after a couple of months, with the future being so uncertain with the business and the re-opening of [live music venues] … and with the stigma of people going to shows, I just had to make the decision to shut the business down. There's a point where financially, it just doesn't make any sense anymore."

Getting creative and resourceful

Good said that he didn't see how Chainsaw would survive while the virus was still active in the Region, even with safety measures in place. 

"Live music, and the way Chainsaw is with karaoke, and the way it is as a bar, it involved being crowded. People need to be close to each other. That, in my opinion, is not going to be a reality for a long while and there's no way to maintain a business, or put it on pause for any length of time. It's very difficult to restart that," he said. 

Some restaurants and bars in the region that temporarily closed their doors in March were able to offer take out options or online stores of some sort to bring in revenue while their doors were closed. Food service was never a primary source of income for Starlight or Chainsaw, so they weren't set up to offer food for pickup or delivery.

Maxwell said the situation forced him to be creative and resourceful. He and his wife put their heads together and opened an online shop to sell some accumulated merchandise and posters from previous shows.

He is also receiving money from the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program, which involves having a willing and communicative landlord, something not every business owner has.  

Will the crowds come back?

Now that commercial spaces can re-open, Maxwell's Concerts and Events can be rented out for private band practices or video shoots. In upcoming months, Maxwell is hoping his space can be used for private functions like celebrations of life that may be long overdue for local families. 

There's no way music is going to stop- Ryan Good, owner of Chainsaw

Nonetheless, Maxwell still feels uncomfortable using his venue to host public live music events for several reasons. Just like Good and Koehler, Maxwell doesn't want his venue to be a space where the virus can spread. Also, with the new provincial regulations allowing gatherings of no more than 50 people, he thinks a show that size in a venue that can hold over 700 just wouldn't feel right, and certainly wouldn't cover financial costs.

He's also unsure if concert goers even feel ready to attend an indoor live music event yet. 

"Live music is supposed to be an escape from reality. It's supposed to be where you can turn off anything that's going on in your life and focus on the present, being in a live music event and taking in the music," Maxwell said. 

"With protocols, restrictions, masks, plexiglass barriers, all those things — it would be a constant reminder of the time we're living in right now and I don't think it would fulfill its purpose of being an escape from reality, and I think that's why people go to live music events."

New faces in old venues

Earlier this week, Dr. Julie Emili, acting associate medical officer of health for Waterloo Region reminded the public that when people are eating at a restaurant or patio, it's important for them to stay seated. 

"If we look at what's happened in the states, there's a lot going on in bars and restaurants and they haven't put processes in place. We know transmission is occurring when you don't put safety measures in place," she said. 

In the past week, the province has directed restaurant owners to encourage patrons to stay seated unless they need to use the bathroom. 

It's clear that this is a tough time for musicians, concert goers and those working in the live music industry, alike. Chainsaw often booked amateur musicians that otherwise wouldn't have a chance to play on stage. Good said that as long as they had supportive friends and had fun, it didn't matter how they sounded. As a karaoke bar, primarily, the stage was open for every kind of person with every level of talent. 

Koehler recently took over the space that was previously Becky's Apartment. Now called Dive Bar, this space has a much smaller capacity, with seating. While live music is not a focus at this new venture, Koehler is confident that he will always work in the live music industry to some extent.  

But now that Chainsaw and Starlight are vacant, Koehler anticipates Starlight will eventually become office space, while Good suspects Chainsaw may be torn down or redeveloped. 

"There's no way music is going to stop," Good said. "[Musicians] will just have to figure out a new way of monetizing it."